


And Then Follow

by wednesday



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-13 15:56:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21164117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesday/pseuds/wednesday
Summary: Boromir takes strange paths back to Gondor.





	And Then Follow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/gifts).

The very last thing Boromir sees is Aragorn’s face, the sorrow on it too complicated for Boromir’s last moments. He closes his eyes and slips into darkness. 

It doesn’t surprise him then that his death is not like a restful sleep at all. He hasn’t had such in many a year, so it scares him not. He wanders the gray and even there now and again he thinks he can hear someone calling him. The more he listens the surer he becomes that it is Aragorn’s voice. It is a gift and a curse both, to be so reminded of all that he has left behind. 

Against all reason he tries to get a glimpse of what manner of being dares call him with that voice. He follows the sounds for he can do nothing else when Aragorn bids him to follow. 

Against all that he knows to be true, Boromir awakens. 

It is Aragorn’s hand upon his brow that he first feels and his eyes deep as the sea that he first beholds. Though Aragorn is called away moments later, Boromir remembers that first sight and thinks on it often in the days that follow. 

He is told what a struggle his healing has been, but he knows beyond any doubt the truth — that it was magic that returned him to the world of the living. What kind he knows not, but accomplished by Aragorn’s hand. He dares not wonder why, though in the darkness of the night his thoughts stray. 

He does not see Aragorn for many days, and it takes him all of those days to heal enough to ride forth with the Rohirrim. 

There's a new worry in Aragorn’s face when Boromir dares ride by his side again. Then he learns the path he means to take and knows that worry to be not nearly great enough. It is a path to Gondodr as he so wished for, but the one path no one should take. Worse than Caradhras, worse than Moria and— 

Yet if it is madness that Aragorn is to attempt, there is but one thing for Boromir to do. He follows Aragorn into the Paths of the Dead and fears nothing in that cursed place, for he remembers walking the lands of the dead with but a voice to guide him. Now he has the memory of warmth, of Aragorn’s hand on his brow, as well. 

Aragorn looks as he did when Boromir first woke, when he calls forth the spirits. Timeless and grave, yet even then he turns to look to Boromir and something of a smile appears in place of the graveness. Perhaps for the lack of doubt he must find. 

He offers his hand to Boromir as they make their way through the caves. He must know Boromir needs no such comfort. And yet. Boromir takes Aragorn’s hand in his and does not let go. 

He walks out of the Paths of the Dead at the side of his king. 


End file.
